Amateur hour

[deidreg]

Ok everybody, as much as it pains me to admit, I and my husband are almost complete amateurs. We both grew up around animals and considered ourselves "country folks". But when we got our 2.5 acre property and started with 6 sheep a couple of months after settling in and then 10 hens the next Summer I guess we should have known we'd have issues. My husband grew up around dairy cows and dogs, I grew up around horses and homing pigeons, and then we also had chickens in my preteen, early teen years. So neither of us knew anything about sheep. And neither of us knew anything about hatching and raising poultry, just adult birds. Last fall two of our chicken hens went broody before we got a rooster, so I gave them duck eggs. (We had by that time gotten ducks and I knew they were fertile) They hatched 7 ducklings between the two of them, 5 survived. We didn't know enough to let them raise them themselves, so we kept them inside till they were big enough to join the flock. Then I had quite a debacle with one of our turkey hens a few months ago (the one I swore never was mated by our tom) going broody. I took 10 of 15 eggs away from her and tried candling them, couldn't see any signs of progress, then almost all of them turned out to be fertile as I cracked them and threw them out! I was SOOO upset with myself. She ended up with only 2 chicks out of the eggs I left her. Now just recently another two of our chicken hens went broody. The first one started on the 6th of this month with 10, an even mix of chicken and duck eggs. One egg got smashed because at first my other hens were trying to lay in her nest. Then 3 days ago her chicken eggs started hatching. She ended up with 4 chicks, but one died. She sat on the nest for 2 more days but today decided she was done. I took the remaining chicken egg and the duck eggs and candled them. The chicken egg had no signs at all. Out of the duck eggs one had no signs, one had a mass with veins and movement, and two were completely dark with an air pocket, but I couldn't hear anything when pressed to my ear, or see any movement. I decided to toss the ones I knew were bad and the two that were blacked out. I cannot express the horror I felt when I saw the two blacked out eggs actually had perfect little ducklings in them!!!! I was so mad at myself I couldn't even cry. I knew it was a 50/50 chance that they either were completely rotten or had babies in them and I don't know for the life of me why I didn't just take the chance and stick them under the other broody with the one other egg. Please if anyone has tips for me on keeping up with the development of incubating eggs I would appreciate it. Also, I had thought that chicken and duck eggs usually take around the same time to incubate, but I guess I was mistaken. Do different duck breeds take different amount of time? Does it matter if they are barnyard mixes?

I am very embarrassed at having to pen this. I really should have known better considering I have this forum to fall back on when unsure. I know from now on I will never toss eggs I'm not sure of though.

You set a good example about how to be honest, learn from mistakes, ask for help, and get better. Thanks for sharing.

 

[yakitori]

It won’t hurt to leave any eggs that could be viable in the incubator or under a broody for longer than you think they need. I would do the smell test for rotten eggs, and if it smells fine, give it a tad longer.

Wishing you success and all the best for your future hatches!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Don't beat yourself up too much. We all have to start somewhere and sometimes that learning curve can be brutal. Never be afraid to ask anything on this forum, we'll try to help, but until you get some experience you usually don't even know what to ask.

Most duck eggs have an incubation period of 28 days compared to chickens at 21 days. Muscovy duck eggs take 35 days. I don't know what happens to mixed breed duck eggs. Turkey eggs take 28 days. I've hatched turkeys and chickens together but started the turkey eggs a week earlier.

That 21 day or 28 day is not an absolute, it's a target. It is not unusual for eggs to hatch a couple of days early or late. There has been more than one story on here where somebody thought the 21 day thing was an absolute so they tossed the eggs after 21 day, thinking they were duds. Like you they found out that those eggs were still OK. Like I said, the learning curve can be brutal. We've all made mistakes.

There are charts that show what you are supposed to see at different days when you candle. That dark mass with an air cell is what you are supposed to see late in incubation. My general suggestion is until you get some experience candling to be very slow to do anything dramatic or final based on candling.

 

[MamaLynn23]

Don't beat yourself up too much. We all have to start somewhere and sometimes that learning curve can be brutal. Never be afraid to ask anything on this forum, we'll try to help, but until you get some experience you usually don't even know what to ask.

Most duck eggs have an incubation period of 28 days compared to chickens at 21 days. Muscovy duck eggs take 35 days. I don't know what happens to mixed breed duck eggs. Turkey eggs take 28 days. I've hatched turkeys and chickens together but started the turkey eggs a week earlier.

That 21 day or 28 day is not an absolute, it's a target. It is not unusual for eggs to hatch a couple of days early or late. There has been more than one story on here where somebody thought the 21 day thing was an absolute so they tossed the eggs after 21 day, thinking they were duds. Like you they found out that those eggs were still OK. Like I said, the learning curve can be brutal. We've all made mistakes.

There are charts that show what you are supposed to see at different days when you candle. That dark mass with an air cell is what you are supposed to see late in incubation. My general suggestion is until you get some experience candling to be very slow to do anything dramatic or final based on candling.

Thank for all the info. Yeah, I definitely don't have the candling thing down yet!

 

[Gezellige_Poes]

Ok everybody, as much as it pains me to admit, I and my husband are almost complete amateurs. We both grew up around animals and considered ourselves "country folks". But when we got our 2.5 acre property and started with 6 sheep a couple of months after settling in and then 10 hens the next Summer I guess we should have known we'd have issues. My husband grew up around dairy cows and dogs, I grew up around horses and homing pigeons, and then we also had chickens in my preteen, early teen years. So neither of us knew anything about sheep. And neither of us knew anything about hatching and raising poultry, just adult birds. Last fall two of our chicken hens went broody before we got a rooster, so I gave them duck eggs. (We had by that time gotten ducks and I knew they were fertile) They hatched 7 ducklings between the two of them, 5 survived. We didn't know enough to let them raise them themselves, so we kept them inside till they were big enough to join the flock. Then I had quite a debacle with one of our turkey hens a few months ago (the one I swore never was mated by our tom) going broody. I took 10 of 15 eggs away from her and tried candling them, couldn't see any signs of progress, then almost all of them turned out to be fertile as I cracked them and threw them out! I was SOOO upset with myself. She ended up with only 2 chicks out of the eggs I left her. Now just recently another two of our chicken hens went broody. The first one started on the 6th of this month with 10, an even mix of chicken and duck eggs. One egg got smashed because at first my other hens were trying to lay in her nest. Then 3 days ago her chicken eggs started hatching. She ended up with 4 chicks, but one died. She sat on the nest for 2 more days but today decided she was done. I took the remaining chicken egg and the duck eggs and candled them. The chicken egg had no signs at all. Out of the duck eggs one had no signs, one had a mass with veins and movement, and two were completely dark with an air pocket, but I couldn't hear anything when pressed to my ear, or see any movement. I decided to toss the ones I knew were bad and the two that were blacked out. I cannot express the horror I felt when I saw the two blacked out eggs actually had perfect little ducklings in them!!!! I was so mad at myself I couldn't even cry. I knew it was a 50/50 chance that they either were completely rotten or had babies in them and I don't know for the life of me why I didn't just take the chance and stick them under the other broody with the one other egg. Please if anyone has tips for me on keeping up with the development of incubating eggs I would appreciate it. Also, I had thought that chicken and duck eggs usually take around the same time to incubate, but I guess I was mistaken. Do different duck breeds take different amount of time? Does it matter if they are barnyard mixes?

I am very embarrassed at having to pen this. I really should have known better considering I have this forum to fall back on when unsure. I know from now on I will never toss eggs I'm not sure of though.

I'm not new to BYC, but I am as a member, and ran into this post. I'm sorry for your struggles and your losses! I hope you have been able to heal and believe that you acted with loving intention, not malice! I have learned things in life the hard way and can fill an encyclopedia set with "beat myself up" moment thanks largely to hindsight being glaringly 20/20!

One thing I did learn early on, is to trust and have faith in Mother Nature. Case in point, many years ago, a friend gave me some Coturnix quail eggs, nearly white, to see if my Ring-neck dove, Pip would incubate them. He lived with Nadia, a rehabilitated mourning dove, and all their eggs turned out to be infertile. He dutifully sat on every egg, while Nadia moved on, unable to convince him he was sitting on duds! I introduced one white Coturnix egg during a broody period, and sure enough, Pip took charge of the egg, incubating 24/7. Doves usually take shifts, but Nadia was again in absentia. Day 21, nothing, day 22, 23, 24... nothing. My friend said, Oh, just remove the egg, no one is home in the egg! I said, Look, he's still sitting on the egg, just let him be. Mother's Day that year, I woke to the tiniest of tiny little chirps. There was Kai! Pip wasn't sure what to make of his fully feathered, ready to go child, but soon took on parenting duties and the two were inseparable. As the time drew near for Nadia to go through another egg laying cycle, Pip decided Kai had to go, and so I moved her to live with my other Coturnix quail, where she happily lived until God called her home.

I'm glad I listened to my gut and let Mother Nature take charge!